Poll: Should We Boycott Companies Shipping Jobs Overseas?

Is it time to boycott companies who refuse to give the U.S. workforce a fair shake?

On Thursday, executives on the condition of anonymity stated that Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive, Meg Whitman, plans to cut 30,000 or more jobs next week. The layoffs and voluntary retirements are expected to come primarily from the U.S., while sparing jobs in China and elsewhere. H.P. had revenue of $127 billion in fiscal 2011, but net earnings of just $7.1 billion.

As this news was breaking, Mitt Romney was praising Meg Whitman in an interview with the National Review published on Thursday. Romney praised Whitman as an economic guru, telling the Review,“I wish Californians had elected Meg Whitman. She would have been more successful and explained to Californians the need to cut back on spending and eliminate unnecessary programs.”

So who should we as citizens deal with, Mitt Romney, Meg Whitman, or Hewlett Packard? Perhaps, we should be dealing with all three. Maybe the time for protesting in the streets, screaming through the polls and trying to deal with these problems through elections is over. Perhaps, the time has come for more painful action; perhaps, it is time to change our shopping patterns.

Maybe it’s simply time to start doing more of our shopping with companies who are not jumping at every opportunity to take jobs overseas. I know that we run the risk in the short run of losing jobs due to slower business, but in the long run the Hewlett Packards might just see American buyers are willing to hurt a little in order to turn this thing around.

And, this is not a Buy-America post; it is a let’s make the companies that are at least attempting to grow their presence in the U.S. rather than continuously downsizing their state-side labor force. We have been waiting on the government to do it, but we can do it—we have the ability and the purchasing power. Just tell me where I should purchase my next computer—I already know where not to purchase it.